Posted on 05/24/2006 7:39:08 AM PDT by Jay777
The American Civil Liberties Union is weighing new standards that would discourage its board members from publicly criticizing the organization’s policies and internal administration.
“Where an individual director disagrees with a board position on matters of civil liberties policy, the director should refrain from publicly highlighting the fact of such disagreement,” the committee that compiled the standards wrote in its proposals.
“Directors should remember that there is always a material prospect that public airing of the disagreement will affect the A.C.L.U. adversely in terms of public support and fund-raising,” the proposals state.
Given the organization’s longtime commitment to defending free speech, some former board members were shocked by the proposals. Nat Hentoff, a writer and former A.C.L.U. board member, was incredulous. “You sure that didn’t come out of Dick Cheney’s office?” he asked.
“For the national board to consider promulgating a gag order on its members — I can’t think of anything more contrary to the reason the A.C.L.U. exists,” Mr. Hentoff added.
The proposals say that “a director may publicly disagree with an A.C.L.U. policy position, but may not criticize the A.C.L.U. board or staff.” But Wendy Kaminer, a board member and a public critic of some decisions made by the organization’s leadership, said that was a distinction without a difference.
“If you disagree with a policy position,” she said, “you are implicitly criticizing the judgment of whoever adopted the position, board or staff.”
Anthony D. Romero, the A.C.L.U.’s executive director, said that he had not yet read the proposals and that it would be premature to discuss them before the board reviews them at its June meeting.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
When will the IRS audit the ACLU?
"... would discourage its board members from publicly criticizing the organization’s policies..."
Kinda say's it all. So much for free speach.
He hasn't been following the news.
Fits the marxist viewpoint...
This is so typical of leftists. Find a group of leftists, and you'll find an environment that cannot tolerate thoughts outside the narrowly accepted range. There's no place on the internet where there's less freedom of speech than at DU. I enjoy DU Funnies, but the reality is "it ain't funny." The lack of open discourse, that is.
It's like watching a bunch of people talk nonstop over which shade of green is best, when someone suddenly says "what about red?" Then all hell breaks loose until the guy who mentioned red is gone.
Then they go back to talking about how great green is.
A.C.L.U are Hypocrites
Nat Hentoff, a writer and former A.C.L.U. board member, was incredulous. “You sure that didn’t come out of Dick Cheney’s office?” he asked.
“For the national board to consider promulgating a gag order on its members — I can’t think of anything more contrary to the reason the A.C.L.U. exists,” Mr. Hentoff added.
I would have thought Hentoff would have cut bait with the ACLU years ago.
Wake up, Nat. You don’t share the same concept of political and religious freedom that these leftist fascists do.
Someone disagrees with the ACLU? Imagine that!
So what does the ACLU propose to do to board members who do NOT obey their "gag order"?
Maybe they could borrow some sword-swinging decapitation teams from CAIR?
But after living and working in downtown Seattle for the last dozen years or so, I'm convinced that the largest group of unbridled bigots in the United States are Leftists.
The vitriol and hatred is simply astonishing. If you voice any disagreement with the prevailing Leftist thought, you are shouted down and verbally abused.
The last straw for me was when a complaint was filed with the HR department at my company, against a woman who did nothing more than say "Well, I voted for Bush" in the lunchroom at work. Seriously. A co-worker tried to get her fired for literally "voting for Bush."
And I know that's all she said because I was sitting next to her (and staying out of the conversation) when she said it.
Sure, the right has it's bigots.....but they are generally not tolerated the way the left embraces its bigotry.
classic liberal/leftist hypocrisy....
It really enforces the image of the "defenders of free speech" as hypocritical and intolerant of speech outside their concept of what is acceptable.
But they have every right to parade their hypocrisy. It's a free country.
OK, absent context you make a valid point. One that I agree with from the standpoint of a private sector tax paying business.
Now lets add the context of the ACLU being an entity that is at least in part funded by tax dollars gained from suing public infrastructure and collecting lawyers fees for doing so.
Lets add the context that the ACLU is supposedly doing much of this suing under the pretext of privay rights and the ability to speak your mind freely.
I ask you this, how does an entity in this context retain its credability (barf) on the issue of supporting free speech for all when they restrain their own people from excercising that very speech?
Do as I say not as I do? Sure looks that way to me!
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